


Talking Cinematic

by lye_kisses



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Band, Boys Are Dumb, M/M, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:33:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7077127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lye_kisses/pseuds/lye_kisses
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pete calls at 11:30- too late to be considered socially acceptable by most, but certainly not the latest he’s ever called. Patrick will take 11:30.<br/>“What’s up Pete?” Patrick says, as soon as he picks up the phone.<br/>“Patrick!” Pete says, voice full of affection. “Tricky, I missed you.”<br/>“Don’t call me Tricky,” Patrick says, steadfastly ignoring the way Pete’s nicknames give him butterflies.</p>
<p>aka: the "If We Were A Movie" AU you didn't ask for</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talking Cinematic

**Author's Note:**

> yes this is based on the hannah montana song  
> yes i am a legal adult  
> yes i should be writing two final papers  
> yes i wrote this instead
> 
> s/o to my girl hanna for reading this even though you have your own shit to do. you are the true mvp

Pete calls at 11:30- too late to be considered socially acceptable by most, but certainly not the latest he’s ever called. Patrick will take 11:30.

“What’s up Pete?” Patrick says, as soon as he picks up the phone.

“Patrick!” Pete says, voice full of affection. “Tricky, I missed you.”

“Don’t call me Tricky,” Patrick says, steadfastly ignoring the way Pete’s nicknames give him butterflies.

“I missed you Trickster, I feel like we haven’t talked in forever.” That’s not entirely true, he and Pete talked at lunch today, but it was part of a group conversation. They haven’t talked one on one like this in a while. Honestly, Patrick’s missed it too.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Patrick says, closing the lid of his laptop and crawling under the covers of his bed. In the past, Pete’s been known to talk Patrick’s ear off for hours, so he might as well be comfortable.

Pete exhales a long, dreamy sigh. Fuck. Patrick knows where this is going; he can always tell when Pete has a new infatuation.

“Who is she?” Patrick says, trying to disguise his annoyance.

“Hey,” Pete says, trying for scolding, but Patrick can hear the smile in his voice. “Who is _he_? Don’t be so hetero-normative.”

Patrick rolls his eyes even though he knows Pete can’t see. “Who is _he_ , then?” Patrick asks, attempting to hide his bitterness. It’s bad enough having to hear about Pete’s female conquests all the time, but it’s always worse when a boy is the object of his affection. When Pete’s dating a girl, it’s easier to pretend that he’s not interested in Patrick because he’s straight, but the handful of boys Pete’s been involved with serve to remind Patrick that he is, in fact, attracted to guys. He’s just not attracted to Patrick.

Honestly, Patrick doesn’t blame him.

Pete giggles, fucking _giggles_. He’s farther gone than Patrick imagined. “Mikey Way.”

“Mikey Way? Gee Way’s baby brother?” Patrick asks. Mikey Way? Really? Patrick supposes that Mikey is Pete’s type: tall, slim, and outwardly angsty. Essentially, the anti-Patrick. The revelation always feels like a slap in the face.

“Yes, Gee Way’s baby brother,” Pete says, sounding slightly miffed at Patrick’s incredulousness. “But he’s not just Gerard’s little brother, he’s his own person you know.” Pete’s tone goes dreamy again. “He’s really cool, and cute, and he knows where to get bootleg Smiths albums.” Even Patrick has to admit, that last one is pretty awesome.

“I really like him.” Pete says, quiet and subdued, so Patrick knows he’s being serious. “Like, for real.”

“I can tell.” Patrick deserves an award for the lack of snark conveyed in his statement.

Pete groans, sounding heartsick. Patrick knows how he feels. “I don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean you don’t know what to do? Talk to him. Ask him out.” Pete may be the makeout king, but when it comes to people he’s genuinely interested in keeping, he needs some encouragement. It kind of sucks that the role of romantic cheerleader falls onto Patrick, but he wouldn’t want Pete going to anyone else either. Sometimes, Patrick’s entire life feels like a Catch-22.

“What if he doesn’t like me though?” Pete whines, insecurities rearing their ugly heads.

“Everyone likes you, Pete.” Patrick states, matter of fact. Most of the time, Patrick thinks Pete should wear a giant, flashing sign that reads “WARNING: DO NOT FEED EGO”, but when he starts to get down like this, Patrick lets his ego have a little nibble.

“Not everyone,” Pete mumbles, just loud enough for Patrick to hear over the phone.

“More people than you think.” Patrick says solemnly. He hopes Pete doesn’t notice his change in tone.

“Hey, Trick, are you okay?” Leave it to Pete to become aware of the last thing Patrick wants him to. “You’ve seemed kind of off this whole time.” Maybe Pete is more perceptive than Patrick realized (or, more likely, Patrick is a worse actor than he thought).

“I’m fine,” Patrick says, hoping his evidently sub-par acting skills can convey nonchalance. “Just tired.” That’s barely even a lie.

“Oh,” Pete says. There’s a pause, and then “I guess it is pretty late.” Pete sounds distant and a little sad. Patrick can practically hear his brain whirring, producing negative thoughts at a mile a minute. “I’ll let you go.”

“Hey, no, Pete, it’s okay. I don’t mind staying up if you need to talk.” No matter how frustrating he may be, Patrick would honestly do anything for Pete, especially to keep him mentally healthy. Nobody wants a repeat of Pete’s sophomore year Best Buy incident.

“No, it’s okay. I should probably try to go to sleep anyway.” Try is the key word. Patrick can tell by the way he sounds that he won’t be getting much shut eye. He’s about to protest, insist that Pete stay on the line and talk, but Pete speaks again before he’s able to get a word out. “Goodnight Patrick, love you.”

“Goodnight Pete-.” Patrick says, right before he hears the beep that signifies Pete’s hung up the phone. He doesn’t mind being cut off, he wouldn’t have been able to say ‘love you’ back anyway. It feels too real.

* * *

 

Two days later, on the way to his dreaded Calculus class, Patrick spots Pete talking to Mikey Way in the hallway by the water fountains. Pete is sporting a face splitting grin, and even the notoriously stoic Mikey looks like he might crack a smile. Damn it.

Patrick tries to slip by unnoticed, but of course Pete’s “Stump Senses” alert him to Patrick’s presence,and they end up making eye contact. Pete quirks his eyebrow in a way that he knows means “stick around”, so Patrick hangs back at the end of the hallway, watching as Pete and Mikey finish up their conversation. Pete lets his hand on Mikey’s shoulder linger for just a little too long to be considered platonic, and Patrick’s stomach involuntarily turns. No matter how many times he watches this happen, it always hurts

Pete waits for Mikey to head off to his next class, thankfully in the opposite direction of where Patrick’s standing, before he makes his way over, so much spring in his step he’s practically skipping.

“I took your advice,” Pete says, smile unwavering.

“You asked him out?” Patrick asks, starting the walk to his next class again. Pete sticks by his side, even though his next class is on the other side of the building. With the way all his teachers adore him, he could probably get away with murder, let alone being late for class.

“Well, no,” Pete says, with just as much enthusiasm as before. “But I did get his number.”

“That’s awesome Pete. I knew you could do it.”

“Thanks for always believing in me, Tricky,” Pete says, wrapping an arm around Patrick and squeezing in an attempt at a quick hug. “Hey, are we still on for tonight?”

Patrick can think of a thousand other things he’d rather do than sit around and watch Pete flirt with Mikey over text all night, but he’d still rather do that than spend his Friday night alone.

“Yeah, of course.”

Pete grins, and thanks to the shitty fluorescent lights in the hallway, it looks almost as big as the one he gave Mikey. “Sweet, see you later!” he says, leaving Patrick at the door of the Calc room before skipping back down the hallway.

  
Patrick waits until he’s rounded the corner and out of sight before going to class. 

* * *

 

 

It’s past two am when Patrick wakes up to a soft knock on his bedroom door, followed by the sound of it creaking open. He doesn’t bother to roll over, he already knows who it is. 

“Hey Trick,” Pete says softly. “Can I sleep in here?”

He doesn’t know why Pete even bothers with the guest room when he sleeps over, he always ends up bunking with Patrick by the end of the night. For all of the bravado Pete puts on during the day, he’s afraid of the dark, and the thoughts that come with it. He’s always hated sleeping alone.

“You know you don’t have to ask, Pete,” Patrick yawns, burying his face into the cool side of his pillow. He doesn’t see Pete cross the room, probably tripping on Patrick’s carelessly strewn laundry, but he does feel him crawl into bed and under the covers, hears him flip over onto his back.

“Patrick," Pete whispers, staring up at Patrick’s ceiling like it holds all the stars in the sky. Patrick stays silent. Maybe if he’s quiet enough, Pete will think he’s fallen back to sleep and leave him alone.

“Patrick,” Pete whispers again, louder this time. Patrick feels the bed shift as Pete rolls over onto his side, practically spooning Patrick from behind. He can feel Pete’s breath, warm and wet on the back of his neck. Patrick does his best to even out his breathing.  “You’re my best friend in the whole world, you know that?”

Patrick doesn’t respond, doesn’t move a muscle, barely even breathes. He fucking knows.

* * *

 

Patrick isn’t all that interested in athletics, but he always goes to Pete’s soccer games, has been going since Pete made the junior varsity team freshman year. He’s got his own special “Patrick spot” in the bleachers as delegated by Pete, so he always knows where to look for motivation.

Even though Patrick isn’t very interested in the outcome of the game, he always watches intently. There are few other places where Pete looks more at home than on the soccer field; when he’s passionate about something, he shines like a supernova. It’s one of the things Patrick loves about him.

Pete is _ on _ tonight, expertly zipping around the field, gracefully weaving around the other players under the heat of the spotlights. Patrick cheers louder than anyone else in the stands when he scores the winning goal.

After the game, Patrick waits around by the side of the field for Pete to be finished with his debrief. It takes a few minutes, but soon, Pete is galloping toward Patrick, obviously still on an adrenaline high from the game.

“Patrick!” he exclaims, as soon as it looks like Patrick is in earshot. “Patrick, did you see that?”

“Of course dude, you looked amazing out there!” Pete looks amazing now honestly, still glistening with sweat from the game.  


“By the way, I have someone I want you to meet,” Pete says, turning around and making a “come here” motion with his hand. A lanky, black-clad figure makes its way toward the pair. Patrick can guess who it is.

“Patrick,” Pete says with a grin brighter than the stadium lights he was just playing under. “Meet Mikey Way.”

Patrick grits his teeth and musters the biggest smile he can give. “Hey Mikey.”

“Mikey Way,” Pete says, voice taking on a tone that Patrick can’t quite place. “This is Patrick Stump. He’s the best person in the whole universe, so you’d better be nice to him.  _ Or else _ .” Patrick feels like he should be the one giving this speech to Mikey, but he doesn’t question it.

The corner of Mikey’s mouth turns up in what is probably a grin from him. “Nice to meet you, Patrick.” Mikey is half-joking. Even though Patrick and Mikey have never really hung out together, they occasionally run in the same circles, and therefore know who each other are. They both just know it’s easier to play along with Pete. 

“Yay!” Pete says, wrapping an arm around Mikey and pulling him close to his chest. “My two favorite people are friends now!” Patrick and Mikey crack identical, smitten smiles. Pete stares into Mikey’s eyes with stars in his own. “So, you ready to go?” Patrick feels like he’s intruding on a moment. “Mikey and I are going to go get ice cream.” Pete says to Patrick, by way of explanation, before he presses a kiss to Mikey’s cheek. Patrick feels sick to his stomach.

“You can get a ride home, right?” 

Patrick can’t, actually. His mom is out of town on a business trip, and his older brother is spending the night at his girlfriend’s.

“Yeah,” Patrick lies. He’d rather walk than spend ten minutes in the car with Pete and Mikey.

“Good,” Pete says, eyes twinkling as he links arms with Mikey. “I’ll talk to you later Trickster.” Pete spins on his heels, dragging Mikey with him toward the parking lot. Mikey looks back at Patrick and waves apologetically. He’s a good kid, really. Patrick likes him a lot, save for the fact he’s dating Pete, and even that doesn’t bother him too much. Pete looks happy with him. It’s not Mikey’s fault Pete isn’t happy with Patrick.

Patrick waits until he sees Pete’s swamp green mini van pull out of the parking lot before starting his trek home. It isn’t that far of a walk, but it’s just far enough to be a hindrance. He doesn’t even make it all the way out of the parking lot before a dented Subaru screeches to a halt next to him.

The passenger side window rolls down, and Patrick finds himself staring at Ryan Ross leaning over an eternally bitchy Spencer Smith. “Need a lift?” 

Patrick considers for a second, before graciously accepting. “Thanks, dude.” Patrick opens the door to the backseat and climbs into the incense-smelling car, finding Brendon Urie bouncing in the backseat.

“Hey Patrick!” he says, enthusiastic as ever. “I told Ryan that you looked like you needed a ride.” Brendon is a sweetheart; Patrick has jazz band with him, and if he wasn’t so gone on Pete, he might consider giving Brendon a chance. He’s not sure how well it would work out, he’s almost certain Brendon’s heart belongs to both Ryan  _ and _ Spencer, but there’s no denying that Brendon is cute.

Ryan whips around in his seat to talk to Patrick. “Wentz ditch you for a shiny new toy?” Ryan and Pete dated briefly about a year and a half ago. They were a good pair while it lasted, swapping eyeliner pencils and writing melodramatic poetry about each other, but their split was not amicable by any means. They’re not on  such bad terms that Pete would feel betrayed by Patrick spending time with him, but there’s obviously still some bitterness between the two. 

Patrick gives Ryan a conceding shrug. Even though Pete didn’t intend to, he did kind of ditch Patrick.

Ryan whips back around, bracelets on his wrists jangling as he throws the car into drive. “Join the club.” he says bitterly, before tearing out of the parking lot.

* * *

Patrick decides he needs to ween himself off of Pete. Not completely, of course, there’s no way Patrick could survive the rest of high school without Pete in his life in some capacity. Just, he needs to get over his stupid crush, it’s starting to physically take a toll on him. Last week Patrick spent two days in bed because Pete gave him a detailed account of one of his and Mikey’s dates. It wasn’t even a sexual thing, Pete doesn’t kiss and tell like that, Patrick is just that pathetic. 

And of course, Pete being the best fucking friend in the world that he is, just  _ had  _ to come and visit Patrick while he was “sick”, bringing soup and DVDs and crawling into bed with him, assuring him that “it’s okay, Mikey doesn’t mind, it’s just  _ you _ ”.

Fuck Patrick’s life, honestly. He can’t deal with this shit.

So Patrick starts ignoring more and more of Pete’s constant text messages, and lets his calls go to voicemail.

He starts taking the long way to all of his classes, just so he can walk alone.

He sits with Brendon, Ryan, and Spencer at lunch instead of Pete and Mikey, and it’s actually kind of nice. Ryan and Spencer may be the self-proclaimed biggest bitches in the whole school, and Brendon their easygoing foil, but they’re fun to eat with.

He definitely doesn’t lose his appetite when he catches Pete staring at him from across the cafeteria, black-hole dark circles rimming his eyes. He just looks away.

* * *

 

For the first time since he had pneumonia a year ago, Patrick skips one of Pete’s games. He pretends he doesn’t hear about how badly the team loses the next day. 

* * *

 

It’s a Friday night, and Patrick is spending it alone in his room. Brendon invited him to a party he’s throwing, but he also invited the rest of the school, and Patrick doesn’t want to run the risk of running into Pete. He’s been doing a good job of avoiding him lately; a month or two more of this, and maybe he’ll be able to think about Pete without his chest feeling like it’s being juiced like an orange. 

So maybe avoiding Pete isn’t working as well as he thought it would.

Because Patrick hates himself, he decides to go through his phone and read all the unopened texts Pete’s been sending him. There haven’t been as many since Patrick stopped replying to them, but the few that Pete’s continued to send are increasingly painful to read.

**_patrick_ **

**_pls tell me what i did wrong_ **

**_please_ **

**_im sorry_ **

**_i don’t know what i did but i promise i’ll make it up to you_ **

**_just respond patrick please_ **

The texts make Patrick feel like a shitty excuse for a human being. The only comfort he has is that he probably feels even worse than Pete does right now. Still, he doesn’t want to give in just yet. If he texts Pete back now, while his feelings are still raw, he’ll only end up hurting more. He needs to get over it. 

Patrick is about to power down his phone for the night when he receives another three texts in rapid succession

**_patrick come downstairs_ **

**_im outside_ **

**_its wet and im cold_ **

What the hell. Patrick trips down the stairs, narrowly escaping breaking his spine, and throws open the front door. Pete is there, sitting with his back to the door on his front steps, letting the frigid rain hit him in sheets.

“Pete?” Patrick says, making Pete jump up and whip around.

“Patrick,” Pete breathes. He’s soaking wet, raindrops dripping from his hair and all down his face, and his eyes look more hollow than Patrick’s ever seen them. He probably hasn’t slept in a week. Patrick desperately wishes he could hold him, and never let him go.“I wasn’t sure if you’d actually come out.”

“What- what are you doing here?” Patrick shouldn’t be surprised; Pete shows up unannounced all the time. He just usually invites himself in, instead of waiting outside and letting himself be drenched by the rain.

“Mikey dumped me,” Pete says, voice cracking. Patrick immediately feels awful. Pete doesn’t handle breakups well, especially when he’s the one being dumped. 

“Oh Pete, I’m so sorry,” Patrick says sincerely. “What happened?”

“Mikey dumped me because he said I need to get my head out of my ass and talk to you.”

Patrick furrows his brow. He’s used to Pete saying confusing things, but he’s not used to him claiming that they come from the mouth of Mikey Way.

“Because, see, well, I-” Pete stutters, before drawing in a deep breath. “I love you. And I know I say that a lot, but I mean it in a- a non platonic way. In an ‘I want to kiss you’ way.” Pete’s hands are shaking, and his voice is sounding increasingly more panicked with every passing word. “I tried really hard for a really long time to pretend that I didn’t, because I didn’t want to fuck up our friendship but I really, really do. And Mikey said that I should talk to you about it, because he thinks that you feel the same way, but you don’t, right?” Pete sounds like he might cry. “Just let me down easy, okay?”

“You are a total fucking idiot,” Patrick says, before he can stop himself. Pete looks like Patrick kicked him, and then maybe a puppy.

“Jeez Trick, I get it, you don’t like me like that.” Pete mumbles, staring down at the puddles around his feet.

“Pete,” Patrick says, cupping a hand around Pete’s cold, wet cheek. Pete flinches, but he doesn’t shy away from Patrick’s touch.  “You are a total fucking idiot because I’ve been in love with you since the seventh grade.” 

Pete’s eyes flicker up to meet Patrick’s, but before he can open his big fat mouth, Patrick does what he’s always wanted to and kisses him. It’s a pretty damn good kiss too, if Patrick does say so himself. A pretty damn good kiss that Pete ruins by grinning and banging his teeth against Patrick’s.

“Ow, fuck, dude, that hurt. Be a little more careful next time.” Patrick says, slipping his arms around Pete’s neck. Pete just wraps his arms around Patrick’s waist and grins like the sun. Patrick’s surprised the clouds don’t clear up.

Pete leans down and kisses Patrick again, soft and sweet, a little more gentle than he would’ve expected. They keep kissing outside, despite the icy raindrops dripping through the leak in the porch roof, and Patrick’s socks being completely soaked through. Patrick’s pretty sure he could stay like this forever, weather be damned, but Pete’s clothes are still damp, and he’s shivering despite being pressed up against Patrick’s warm, mostly dry body.

“Hey,” Patrick says, breaking the kiss. Pete frowns and furrows his brow, but immediately sets to work on Patrick’s neck, attempting to suck a bruise into his pale skin. It’s a few more minutes before Patrick is able to properly articulate again.

“Pete,” Patrick tries, once Pete’s moved to placing butterfly kisses along Patrick’s jaw. “Do you want to take this inside?”

Pete stops and pouts, and he looks like he’s going to protest, even though Patrick can still feel him shaking from the cold. “Can we keep making out?”

Patrick snorts. Unattractive, but nothing Pete hasn’t heard a thousand times before. “I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon.”

Pete beams and gives Patrick a quick peck on the lips. “Good. We have a lot of lost time to make up for.”

“Tell me about it,” Patrick says, ushering Pete inside his warm haven of a home. Pete attempts to push Patrick up against the wall and kiss him again, but Patrick shakes his head. There’s no way he’s letting Pete mack on him in the foyer. Instead, Patrick grabs Pete’s hand and pulls him upstairs, trying to creep as quietly as possible. Patrick’s mom is used to Pete showing up at all hours of the night, sometimes with swollen lips and fresh bruises on his neck, but she isn’t quite so accustomed to seeing Patrick with the mirror equivalent. He’d like to save that conversation for the morning, thank you very much. 

Once they safely arrive in his room, closing the creaky door behind them with as little noise as possible, Patrick rummages through his drawers until he finds an outfit that Pete can change into.

“Here,” Patrick says, thrusting the rumpled pile of clothes into Pete’s hands. “Go dry yourself off in the bathroom and change into these. I don’t want my-” Patrick falters for a second. Technically, he and Pete haven’t discussed whether or not they’re officially “boyfriends” yet, but he’s almost certain that they will be by the morning. Still, Patrick knows what happens when you assume. “My  _ you _ to catch a cold.”

Pete’s eyes glisten in the dim lighting of Patrick’s room. “Thanks, Trick. Will do.” He gives Patrick a chaste kiss before slipping out to the bathroom across the hall. Patrick could get used to this.

While Pete is gone, Patrick strips off his disgustingly wet socks, and changes his pajama pants for good measure. Only the very bottom of the pant legs got damp, but Patrick puts on the Star Wars themed pants that Pete gets a kick out of anyway. Once he’s done that, he climbs onto his bed to wait for Pete to get done changing. Pete always takes longer to get ready than any other person Patrick knows, but he’s willing to wait forever for Pete.

Pete comes back from the bathroom a few minutes later in a pair of Patrick’s sweatpants, slightly baggy on Pete’s slimmer frame, and an ancient band t-shirt that’s just an inch too short, exposing a thin strip of Pete’s warm, caramel skin. Patrick isn’t normally a possessive guy, but something about the way Pete looks in his clothes makes his brain scream “ _ mine _ ”.

Pete catches Patrick staring and smirks, cocking his hips. “Like what you see?”

Patrick rolls his eyes and pats the bed. “Get over here.”

Pete’s smirk turns into a grin, and he bounds over to the bed, practically leaping into Patrick’s lap, pushing him back against the pillows. Patrick playfully shoves at his chest, but it’s more of an automatic response to Pete tackling him than anything. There’s no place else he’d rather Pete be.

Pete leans in, so close their noses bump against each other. His breath smells minty fresh, which means that he probably used Patrick’s toothbrush while he was in the bathroom, but Patrick couldn't care less. He plans on having Pete’s tongue in his mouth for the rest of the night anyway, so what’s a little extra spit swapped?

“Hey Patrick,” Pete whispers, running his fingers through Patrick’s hair. “You’re my best friend in the whole world.”

Patrick grins, and then closes the gap between he and Pete, kissing him long, and hard, and slow.

He fucking knows.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!


End file.
